


It's Lonely At Midnight

by AnimeGirlAnn



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Fast Food Worker Kokichi, Fluff and Humor, Kinda, Light Angst, M/M, No actual prostitution surprising, Romantic Friendship, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 00:08:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17456888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimeGirlAnn/pseuds/AnimeGirlAnn
Summary: There was a prostitute sitting at Kokichis bus stop every night since he started working night shifts.Well technically he didn’t know if she was a prostitute.But she was absolutely a prostitute....Or "How Kokichi fell in love with a cross-dressing strip club waiter named Shuichi at a bus stop... And pretty much just gets blue balled the entire time."





	It's Lonely At Midnight

There was a prostitute sitting at Kokichis bus stop every night since he started working night shifts.

Well technically he didn’t know if she was a prostitute.

But she was absolutely a prostitute.

Slim legs clad in pleather thigh highs lead up to a sleeveless black mini dress that always seemed one wrong move away from coming up and flashing someone. If it wasn’t for the tacky fur coat that hung off her bony shoulders Kokichi would be genuinely concerned about her freezing her ass off.

Whenever he saw her he was always between asking her how many STD’s she had or when was the last time she ate anything that didn’t come out of a dick. Though Kokichi never asked either of those questions, hell he’s never even talked to her before. The closest thing the two ever had to an actual interaction was the short glances she gave him when he was walking towards the stop as if thinking ‘oh, it’s the dead beat fast food worker again,’ and he’d look back thinking ‘oh, it’s the two bit dollar whore again.’

...That sounded a lot more dickish the more he thought about it. Maybe he’s just being judgemental and she simply likes showing skin but doesn’t have the money to buy the decent stuff.

Then again, pleather thigh high boots.

Regardlessly the blue haired, greyish gold eyed female would always be there under the dull yellow street light while trying to avoid sitting next to the unexplainably sticky areas of the seat like he would.

Today was no exception to that pattern but Kokichi still found himself a little surprised to see her. A part of him had expected that she wouldn’t be around once fall’s chilly nights started. There wasn’t exactly any heating at public bus stops, and considering her clothes barely covered herself without the jacket he figured she’d just opt to carpool rather than risk getting an awkward frostbite by sitting outside at midnight in the middle of September. Yet she was still here and didn’t even look like she registered just how freezing it was; the fur coat must have been a lot warmer than he assumed.  

Kokichi meanwhile can’t stop shivering and even when he pulls his own cheap hoodie tighter into himself it only keeps him as warm as an ice cube would. Clicking his tongue, he looks over at the prostitute next to him, too exhausted from dealing with oblivious customers at work to consider how rude he’ll look if she notices him staring.

Any other night the crusty brown coat she was wearing would’ve looked trashy and probably flea ridden, the type you’d find rotting in the bottom of a bargain bin at a thrift shop. But in the midst of turning into an ice cube at twelve in the morning it looked like the softest thing he had ever seen in his life and equally the warmest. He had a twenty in his pocket he could maybe use to bribe her into giving it to him, but he was still rational enough to remember he’d immediately regret it once he got somewhere with heating and realized he paid twenty bucks for the shittiest fur coat he’d ever seen in his life. Still though... He doubted she’d mind giving it away, it was barely hanging onto her thin form and fell from her shoulders, pooling around her waist. Plus it was actually pretty fluffy now that he was feeling it, a lot less coarse than he’d imagine-

It was then that Kokichi realized, in his dazed from the cold state, he was unconsciously petting the bushy fur edges of the lady’s coat while she stared at him half disturbed, half questioning. But mostly disturbed.

He has no answer as to what part of his brain decided to approve this action while he wasn’t thinking. Maybe it’s because he’s really bored, maybe it’s because he forgot to sleep the night before, probably it’s because the leaking gas from the deep frier at his job has finally given him brain damage. But it doesn’t matter why right now because _he’s still petting the coat like an idiot._

He jerks his hand back (ignoring the slight feeling of disappointment he gets from no longer being able to feel the fur’s warmth) and tries to look like someone semi confident and not a creepy pervert who sits at bus stops in the middle of the night to pet people’s clothings.

He should say something along the lines of, “I’m sorry, I’m a minimum wage fast food worker who was dumb enough to agree to spend his nights cooking questionable meats instead of sleeping so I’m understandably out of it.”

But because he’s a socially disconnected asshole without a filter (and even more dangerously, he’s incredibly bored), what he says instead is, “I have a twenty in my pocket and an empty bed three stops from here, how much can that get me?”

The way her eyes bulge and mouth flaps like a fish choking on land would’ve been absolutely hilarious if Kokichi wasn’t still in the middle of regretting everything that had let up to this moment, “W-Wait a minute! I-I-! I am not a-erm-!” After another minute of disjointed stuttering (and Kokichi thought _he_ sucked at this), she gives up and slouches forward sighing, “I’m not working right now...”

Well, at least she admitted it.

She gives him a pained look before tilting her head downwards, blocking off her face with her bangs. One of her hands fiddles with the sleeve of her oversized coat.

He considered just letting it drop there, the two of them would just sit in awkward silence until the bus came and then tomorrow they could just pretend this whole thing never happened. It’s what any sane man would’ve done.

But fuck it, Kokichi wasn’t a sane man and her image of him is already fucked; might as well have some fun with it since he’s going to mull over this interaction in shame all night regardlessly.

So he leans forward on his palms and asks without shame (with a little shame), “What if I told you I was a criminal overlord who could make you the Queen of Peru for a blowjob?”

She clearly wasn’t expecting him to respond, or was just too deep in her own thoughts to expect anything, because her head jolts up with that bug eyed look again and all she can say is, “Why Peru?!”

He has the same giddy feeling of a fisher noticing a tug on their line. There’s a grin tugging at his cheeks behind the innocently excited look he puts on, “Would you prefer the Bahamas? Seychelles? I’m more in a tropical mood today but if you want somewhere colder Queen of Siberia has a nice ring to it.”

“Um, well...” she stutters and looks skeptically down at his plastic name tag, the unblinking face a of the smiling Ronald McDonald looks back up at her. “I have my doubts...” She squinted at the name tag through the dark, “Kokichi?”

“Hey, it’s a hard economy, we all have to have side jobs, mob bosses included,” he shrugs off happily.

She lets out a tired chuckle at that, “Well, your not lying there at least.” She gives him an uncertain look and glances away as if considering something, then looking more decisive she reaches a hand out to him and smiles softly, “My name’s Shuichi by the way.”

It’s a masculine name but it oddly fits the feminine Shuichi. Kokichi heart doesn’t skip a beat and he doesn’t swallow back any nervousness when he shakes her outstretched hand and says, “I’m Hitler by the way!”

“W-What!?”

He just can’t help it, it’s fun watching her face panic momentarily before realizing it’s obviously a joke (and he has a feeling Shuichi won’t be driven off to soon by it, hopefully). Shuichi half heartedly glares at him when he finally stops laughing. “Was it really that funny?”

Yes it was, “Hey, it’s what my friends call me!”

“I doubt that,” Shuichi said, then looking pensive added on, “... I _want_ to doubt that.”

Kokichi cackles harder.

“But, um, about earlier, Queen of Peru?” Shuichi eventually says to change the subject.

“Or Queen of Siberia!”

“Yeah... I’m not sure how to say this but,” Shuichi says and rubs a hand behind her neck with a puzzled look, “You know I’m a guy right? This dress is just part of my work.”

Of course she- _he_ is.

It’s a great night for Kokichi overall.

 

They start to talk daily after that-he luckily managed to convince Shuichi he didn’t think he was a she through the sheer power of bullshitting his way out of his problems-so they continued talking. Whenever they met up at the bus stop, Kokichi would make up some new story he pulled out of his ass and Shuichi would make a face that Kokichi would laugh at. Good times.

Most of the time though they’d talk about useless, trivial things. Something weird one of them saw while walking to the bus stop or about a creepy customer Kokichi met. Oddly enough, Shuichi didn’t talk about his job, he tended to avoid the topic altogether most of the time. But only _most_ of the time.

Tonight wasn’t most of the time.

“I’m not actually a prostitute, just so you know...” Shuichi awkwardly admits after about a week of chatting.

Kokichi doesn’t give her a reassuring look, “Oh really?”

“Really!” Shuichi insisted, “I know I agreed with you when you made that joke when we first started talking, but I just didn’t want to talk long and have to explain it all.”

“... So your an escort then?”

Shuichi scowled at him and Kokichi chuckled nervously and said, “Nishishi! Did I hit a nerve?” When Shuichi continues looking offended, he adds, “Sorry though, I’ll shut up if it makes you comfortable. Keep going, I’m curious! Really!” To emphasize this he imitates zipping his lips with two fingers and crosses his heart with another.

Shuichi glances at him for a moment, checking to see if he’ll actually stay silent, when he does Shuichi says, “I work at a strip club, as a waiter not a stripper. Though I was one of the strippers at first but I...”

“What? Your booty was too good for the floor? Someone threw a bar of gold at you and broke your hip and now you can never dance again? You slipped on a ten dollar bill while on stage?”

Shuichi flinced and Kokichi excitedly gasped, “Wait! Did someone really throw a gold bar at you!?”

“No! Not that one! Who even _has_ gold bars anymore!?” Shuichi said, and ignored Kokichi when he raised his hand. “I slipped on stage a few times is all. It’s different when you have more than a few people looking at you like when I was being interviewed. I... I just didn’t like the attention, I don’t like eye contact. It’s not like it was a bad job or anything, a few places I worked at back then were actually really nice to me instead of what you would expect. But I’m just not made for it, you kind of need to attract attention as a stripper if you want to make decent money and I couldn’t do that. Though at the time I was in a tough spot financially and my friend Miu managed to get me the job. Luckily the owner of the place I usually worked at liked me a lot and she let me stay as a waiter, even though I was a terrible stripper. Crossdressing fills a niche she was looking for apparently.”

“... Did the owner like you in a friendly way or ‘Oh hey, a hot stripper!’ way?” Kokichi said.

“I didn’t put out to keep a job if that’s what your asking...”

“...”

“... She just made me join her cult to keep my job is all... We worship Atua at break.”

“You know, I always expected strip club owners to be sketchy weirdos but not in that way-”

“Angie isn’t that bad of a boss!” Shuichi argued, but didn’t look too convinced himself, “I’m just grateful I have a job in general really. I don’t have much else.”

“That just makes it sound worse.” Kokichi said.

“W-Well-!” Shuichi stuttered, trying to think of something smart to say and eventually choked out, “What about y-you?!”

“Hm? What about me?”

“Your a fast food worker, t-that’s not that good of a job either!”

Kokichi shook his head and said, “I’m only a fast food worker with shitty pay _part time_. My day job’s still as the world’s most powerful mafia boss. I’ll have you know, I work day in and day out to keep on top of the world. Even one mistake and I could destroy the whole world’s economy all because you distracted me for too long! You, on the other hand, are still pretty fucked with your cult job. Speaking of which, when are you guys having a Kool-Aid drinking party?”

Shuichi’s mouth thinned and he said, “It’s not like that. And stop giving me that look, you _know_ it’s not like that. Besides, I was actually hoping to ask you about your... ‘mafia connections’ thing. I was thinking about it yesterday and-”

“Aw~! You think about wittle ole me!”

Shuichi decided to blurt out his theory before Kokichi could continue that line of thought, “When you say your a mafia boss, is that a metaphor for being a college student when your not working?”  

Kokichi didn’t say anything for a minute, he was genuinely a little stunned someone had actually put much thought into his bullshit. Put much thought into him in general. It was... kind of flattering honesty...

“Nah, I never got into college actually,” Kokichi said, truthfully for once, not that it lasted long, “My highschool lover swindled me out of my college funds and family’s riches when he tricked me into running away with him, he left me at this very bus stop though and I never saw him again...”

Actually  Kokichis parents never had enough money for any imaginary boyfriend to swindle out of them. Even if they did though Kokichi couldn’t see them paying for anything for him that wasn’t essential like food or a dollar toothbrush, unless they wanted it too of course. Unfortunately they didn’t want college that much so it wasn’t much of an option at the time. His college options only got narrower when they kicked him out of the house on his eighteenth birthday as his final present from them. Though by that point higher education was the last thing on his mind in favor of finding a place that wasn’t his car he could sleep at. But who wanted to hear about a boring story like that? Kokichi sure didn’t want too. _Waaaaay_ too depressing...

Shuichi gave him a curious look, one Kokichi didn’t see a lot when he told his tall tales (usually people reacted with more annoyance, disbelief, or with the familiar enraged expression that followed a punch he’d have to dodge). Maybe it was because it was one of Kokichis more believable lies, but Shuichi asked, with genuine interest no less, “What was your lovers name then?”

Ryoko Otonashi, Kokichi decided that sounded like a decent name for a made up lover. Shuichi didn’t know any better at least.

So he started talking about Ryoko, putting more effort into his lies than the other ones just to give Shuichi a better time guessing what was and wasn’t true (none of it was though). It wasn’t until Kokichi was halfway through telling the fictional backstory though that he realized he was grinning wildly without even trying.

  


Kaede, one of his coworkers that worked the day shifts, was kind of a low key bitch when you didn’t buy her ‘all loving do-gooder’ persona. Kokichi, being one who finds calling people out on their shit easier than saying hello, quickly was put at the top of her shit list for that.

Still though, Kokichi figured Kaede was self delusional enough in her belief that she was ‘a good person’ that she gave him some thought, even if it was just to play into a role. He doubted she would let anything _too_ cruel happen to him, even if he was easily the most annoying person working there and proud of it.

At least until October came along and when he came to work he found out his first assignment was to clean up the Halloween Party everyone had at break, the one that no one invited him too.

(“W-Well you work night hours now and we had it during the day so we didn’t think you could make it, that’s all!” Kaede stammers while awkwardly packing up the leftover skeleton shaped cookies. Even Kaito could call out her bullshit, but he’d already tactifully retreated with the remains of the pumpkin pie Kokichi didn’t get a slice of, “I’m really sorry about having you clean up, I wasn’t keeping track of time and thought I could clean it up before your shift-”

“So you could hide the evidence that I was ditched? How heartwarming Kae-Ay-Day!”

“No that’s wrong! And that’s not how you say my name!”)

Needless to say he spent an unhealthy amount of time sabotaging everything he could think of that would annoy the absolute hell out of his coworkers instead of working. He even stole one of the leftover cartons of pumpkin cookies someone had left behind out of spite. And if the guy who replaced him noticed his eyes seemed redder and puffier than usual, than that guy was blind because Kokichi was absolutely fine.

Fuck his coworkers.

By the time he sees Shuichi sitting at the usual bus stop he feels less bitter and more tired than anything. “Uuurgh, Shuichi I’ve been betrayed, robbed and betrayed!”

“.... Bad day I’m assuming?” Shuichi guessed and gave him a familiarly questioning but trying smile. Fuck, he’s never realized how much he missed someone giving him the benefit of the doubt convincingly. Hell he can’t even remember the last time someone looked genuinely pleased to see him... ain’t that a cheerful thought.

Kokichi wearily drops his weight onto the bench, his head leaning uncomfortably onto the stiff headrest. “So my dumb organization forgot to invite me to this big time drug deal,” Kokichi monologues off the top of his head, letting himself get as lost into the lie as Shuichi is, “Of course they fuck up without me and now we’re in debt to the Russian mafia for two hundred pumpkin cookies, I’m not even sure how they did that but I’d be kind of impressed if it happened to anyone else but me cause now I’m the one who has to fix their shit. Either way they’re halfway to Siberia right now and I’m out of pumpkin cookies and drug money, it’s not a happy mix.”

“...But your holding a bunch of cookies?” Shuichi points out, looking at the stolen box of pumpkin cookies he had nabbed earlier.

“Oh yeah,” Kokichi holds up the forgotten box he grabbed on a whim, “Well these are actually just orange dyed snickerdoodles, silly Shuchi, can’t you tell the difference?”

Shuichi gives him a long look, “Your not even trying are you?”

Kokichi shrugs and takes out a cookie, “Who cares really? Truths are kinda boring, lies are kinda boring.”

He rips his teeth into orange dough as he remembers Kaede’s excuses, “I hope they get frost bite all over their asses in Siberia.”

Shuichi grimaces at whatever face he’s making and rubs his back apologetically despite not knowing the context for his troubles. Kokichi would be lying if he said he didn’t lean into the warm touch a bit. He never had that many close friends, not since high school anyways, and his family was never a source of comfort to him to begin with. So even just a simple but sweet back rub wasn’t something he got a lot of. It didn’t help that Shuichi was the only person Kokichi talked too on a regular basis even though they weren’t particularly close; they only saw each other at their mutual bus stop. Despite all that, Shuichi was easily the closest thing Kokichi had to a friend and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

They stayed like that for a while in mutual silence, the only sound being their breathing and the crinkling of candy wrappers left behind by trick-or-treaters. Shuichi broke the silence after a minute or two by carefully saying, “You know... I used to work at a pizza place a year ago, before the stripper thing. A guy stormed in one day, took one look at me, and then forced his way into the back where I was cooking and tried to throw a whole cheese pizza at me.”

“That so?” Kokichi mumbles through his bites.

“Because his girlfriend had told him she was cheating on him with the pizza guy, but she didn’t tell him _which_ pizza guy she was talking about. He apparently just came to their usual pizza place and started slinging at the first person he saw since he didn’t have anything else to go off of. Too blinded by his rage I guess. Unfortunately that person was me.”

Kokichi snicked, “What an idiot.”

Shuichi laughed along with him, “That’s not even the best part though. When he tried to fling the pizza at me he didn’t realize the pizza he grabbed was still hot and gooey. When he picked it up it came apart in his hands and fell on him.”

That got genuine cackles out of Kokichi and he almost choked on the food in his mouth, Shuichi patted his back till he could breathe again. “What the did he do after that?!”

“He burned himself a little, but that only made him angrier at me,” Shuichi continued with an animated grin and slight blush from laughter, “He just tried to grab the ruined pieces of the pizza and throw those at me, but he just got himself burned worse! And he’s so emotional and his hands are so burned that they all miss me. Eventually some bigger guys I was working with forced him out and called the cops.”

Shuichi giggled but then stopped abruptly, his face fell as if he was remembering something unpleasant before he pulled on a noticeably weaker smile and looked back at him, “I feel a little bad about it because I couldn’t stop laughing at him once he got covered in the cheese and sauce, I think I only made him feel worse.”

Kokichi’s almost sure there’s more to it than that, but he decides it’s probably not a good idea to pry while someone’s trying to cheer him up so he chuckles and replies, “Who cares how you made him feel? He tried to assault you with cheesy goodness, you should’ve done a lot worse than just laughed at him! Personally I would’ve had my subordinates break into his house and replace all his valuables with pizza toppings. Not the good ones like pepperoni, ones like anchovies. No one likes anchovies.”

“I kind of like anchovies.” Shuichi said.

“... Were you just not loved enough as a child or..?” Shuichi elbowed him while trying, and failing, to keep a grin off his face.

“Here!” Kokichi declares on a whim and yanks out another cookie, “People who get assaulted by pizza bastards deserve cookies, your supreme leader commands it!”

“I’m fine without one- _Mmmf!?”_ Shuichi was cut off when Kokichi took the opportunity to stuff the dessert into Shuichi’s mouth while he was trying to talk. In response, Shuichi snatched another from the container and tried to exact revenge by throwing it at Kokichi’s face. He caught it before it even hits him and manages to cram it into Shuichis mouth too. Shuichi doesn’t look happy about it.

The two end up wasting the whole box through their war and even then keep throwing the leftover crumbs at each other until the bus driver has to pointedly cough to get their attention when they don’t notice the bus had arrived three minutes ago. Kokichi’s still giggling quietly to himself in his spot in the back of the bus. Then his stop comes and the outside’s freezing winds kill his mood when he steps out.

Going from his chats with Shuichi back to his usual routine was starting to cause more and more emotional whiplash for him.

Kokichi forces his feet up the creaking metal stairs of his apartment complex. Thankful the stairs haven’t given way just yet, though they still sound like they will. He forces the rusty handle of his front door to budge and greets the usual silence of his one bedroom apartment. The empty quietness seemed loud of all of a sudden.

For no comprehensible reason, he stood motionlessly in his doorway and looked over the shadows covering his unkempt living room with an odd sense of detachment. It smelled kind of like morning breath; the scents of wallowing filth and rotting bits of food mixing together into an unwanted stench. A pizza box he remembers ordering last week was still sitting on the couch next to the pile of laundry he hadn’t cleaned yet, both had a layer of noticeable dust on them. Untouched, unmoved, alone.

  


Kokichi has a bed that creaks every time he so much as breathes but he can’t find the energy in himself to clean up his junk covered couch to sleep there instead. So he tries to suck it up and force his brain to go to sleep already.

It’s not working out that well.

It doesn’t help that he’d bundled himself into the only two blankets he owned and was still shivering like crazy. The landlord had messaged him and the rest of the apartment complexes residents that the heater would be on the fritz for a day leaving the tenants, Kokichi included, to fend for themselves.

A while back he remembers reading an article about how the best way to stay warm is  through skin on skin contact with another person, a discovery that likely sparked the perverted fantasies of many (including himself but that’s not important). Usually he’d do whatever it would take to keep his fingers from numbing into icicles but...

Kokichi glanced at the empty expanse of his bed.

He’s never really slept with anyone in the same bed before, even back when he was a kid his parents refused to let him sleep in their bed whenever he had a nightmare. Usually they’d lock him in his room and let him cry it out instead. The closest he ever came to sleeping alongside someone was during the sleepovers he’d go to with his old group of friends back in high school. Though they always kept some room between each other and there was ten of them together, so it never felt like he was intimately sleeping alongside someone. It was more like a casual hangout but with more sleeping involved. Looking back on it, he can’t even remember if he did feel any particular warmth back then. He can’t even recall most of what it was like anymore. It had been a long time since Kokichi saw any of them let alone had someone at his house.

He used to be close to them too, those friends from highschool, even though there was ten of them they always use to stay close. They even made a nickname for themselves, Dice, because it seemed fun. For a while they pranked the whole school in every way they could think of and left their calling card ‘Dice’ behind every time because that seemed like fun too. Those were the best days of Kokichis life. Though life happens and next thing he knew, most of them were going to college or getting jobs, hell Kokichi was busy getting his own job at the time to move out of his car. Not to say they didn’t _try_ to keep close. For a while they met weekly... then monthly cause a few of them couldn’t make the day they scheduled... then, never.

Such is life, apparently.

How boring.

Kokichi lazily reached a hand out to touch the other edge of his bed, caressing the crinkly edge of the sheets and the lonely stretch between. In the cold of the night he couldn’t help but think it would’ve been nice to have someone here with him. Just to have a person he could huddle for warmth with and press his cold feet against so he could laugh at the face they’d make.

In his mind he imagined his fingers finding pearly pale shoulders poking out of an oversized coat across the bed instead of nothing. Slender hands that pull him into a flat but warm chest when they notice him reaching out to them, and then hold him close enough he can hear a melodic heartbeat in his ears, the feeling of smiling lips against his hair and gold eyes that look at him like-

Kokichi retracts his hand.

He just wants to get some sleep for once dammit.

  


Kokichi’s apartment isn’t anything special, not particularly bad but not good either if you minus the fact he never cleans it; a normal one bedroom apartment with a cramped bathroom and small living room with a kitchen he only ever uses to heat up leftovers in. Though there is one notable feature to it, a surprisingly wide extra closet placed awkwardly near his front door. The landlord said the builders had screwed up during construction years back and accidentally left a weird gap between the walls, therefore they put a closet there to make it look intentional. Which left Kokichi a lot more extra room to store stuff. When he first moved in he thought about using the space to try and make a small walk in closet or maybe use it to organizanize important stuff, like a functioning adult would.

In practice though, all it ended up being was a place he stored all the dusty cardboard boxes he hadn’t gotten to unpacking yet in favor of procrastination. It was mostly old childhood stuff he decided to bring with him when he moved out since his parents would have either sold them or thrown them out if he left it behind. Sometimes he did pull one out and try to sort through the stuff in them when he felt nostalgic. Mostly it just resulted in him feeling crappy and mentally exhausted by the comparison of memories from back then and now. So he just shoves the half opened boxes back into the closet to collect more dust and age.

This time though he found something surprisingly positive instead of depressing; his old nintendo DS he bought online years back. He could still remember coming home late for weeks with sore limbs after doing various odd jobs around the neighborhood to get the money to buy it since his parents weren’t giving him any. It still even had a few old games with it, most of the cartridges though had gotten broken in the box except for a copy of Mario Party 64 left in the console.

When work came around the next day he figured ‘why not?’ and played it behind the cash register in the empty restaurant. He was at the snowy level trying to find the body of a detached snowman's head (only in Mario) when he got to the bus stop where Shuichi was waiting for him. “What’s that?”

“Secret evil device that can triggers bombs in my enemy’s base. So far I’ve managed to blow all his bathrooms straight to hell and back. My diabolical plan of forcing him to piss himself without any toilets around is working perfectly!”

“I don’t know why I bother,” Shuichi sighed and moved over to give Kokichi room. A look of recognition passed over his face when he got a better look at the screen, “Oh! Is that Mario? I don’t think I ever played this one before.”

Kokichi humphed, “No, I told you! It’s my evil device that can mind control Italian plumbers into jumping onto goombas!”

“Wait, I thought you said it was-? Actually, nevermind.” Shuichi said and quietly watched him play the game over his shoulder, quietly commenting, “You’re really good at it...”

“I used to be an Olympic gamer ya know? But after a traumatic experience, I left gaming forever. That was until a plucky young fan brought me back into it to help save his family’s store by winning the prize money to a local competition... all coming out on bluray April 2019.” Kokichi said.

Shuichi decided not to respond to that one.

He got invested in Kokichis gameplay quick and pinched his chin between his fingers while unconsciously leaning in closer over Kokichis shoulders to get a better look. The two had been getting closer, a month had passed since they first started talking and being in the other’s personal space wasn’t too awkward anymore. So Kokichi didn’t think much of Shuichi pressing in closer behind him to get a clearer view. But he did mind that Shuichi was unawaringly pressing his chest up against Kokichis back in the process.

It suddenly becomes very difficult to focus on the screen

Kokichi always thought of himself as more of a thick kind of guy, thick boobs and thick thighs kind of guy. Shuichi was rapidly proving him wrong. On his back Kokichi could feel the tight front of Shuichi’s dress stretching across the other’s flat chest and could’ve sworn he felt two tiny bumps from perky nipples poking at him.

He breathed in.

Before they started talking, Kokichi admittedly did look at Shuichi. Only out of curiosity. Truthfully he hadn’t ever thought much of the then nameless stranger back then.

But that’s lie because he actually did think about Shuichi and the way he looked even when he wasn’t around, back when Kokichi still thought he was a she. Nothing too in depth or thoughtful, only random daydreams and shallow ponderings on why Shuichi never invested in more winter clothes when he takes the night bus. Sometimes when he was bored and horny with a hand down his pants, he imagined Shuichi in a compromising position simply because he crossed his mind. Less out of genuine interest and more because Shuichi was a scantily dressed prostitute Kokichi saw on a regular basis and could think up easily. It didn’t matter much back then, he didn’t know Shuichi, and Shuichi didn’t know him. So if Kokichi did daydream about him from time to time because he felt a little lonely, who cared? It wasn’t like there was anything to stroke the flames into becoming something bigger than that.

But now...

Shuichi was still absorbed in the game even though the actual player had long since stopped paying attention, so Kokichi dared to sneak a glance. Shuichi looked pretty under the usually unappealing streetlights; the dull yellow glow giving his short blue hair and pale complexion an almost golden glow. Oblivious to his stare, Shuichi yawned deeply, looking away from the console and stretching his arms high till his back curved into a C shape with a crack. His already low hanging coat fell lower and lower till it curled around his small hips. Velvety black material from the sleeveless dress clung to his sides but showed off the contours of his back through a wide V cut that Kokichi couldn’t see the end of. It reminded him too much of a few daydreams he may or may not have had late one night, ones he doubted Shuichi would ever be comfortable hearing about if Kokichi told him (not that he would).

He wasn’t an idiot, he wasn’t going to do anything because he was being reminded of a few wet dreams he once had (ones where Shuichi still had tits no less), but that didn’t mean his imagination wasn’t running wild. One would’ve thought that thoughts like those would’ve gone away the moment Kokichi found out Shuichi was male but _nope_. Apparently not, turns out he’s probably bisexual... and found it out while sitting at a bus stop cause of a crossdressing stripper turned waiter. Go figure.

Gay crisis or not, Kokichi’s mind was still whirling and he could see the future wet dream now. Him reaching a hand out to rub up and down the pearly strip of back to warm the prickling skin up. Shuichi would give him a curious look, but wouldn’t stop him, no, _he would lean into the touch_ . Kokichi bit his lip while envisioning Shuichi’s face turning from intrigued to downright sultry as he let Kokichi’s hand do what he wanted. Continuing, his hand would calmly rub circles on Shuichi’s back further and further down till he managed to find the end of the V-cut dress, reach the firm, apple shaped ass he fantasized about squeezing and then letting Shuichi’s itty bitty black dress finally pull up _all the way_ while he-

Shuichi, the real one, pulled his coat back up, “You okay?”

Kokichi tore his gaze away to focus back on the game console. The game over screen looked cheerfully back at him and informed him he had been killed three times in a row without noticing. “Mmhmm, just peachy keen!”

Doubtful eyes peered down worriedly at him, “You look red though...”

The nimble fingers Kokichi had just been daydreaming of clawing at his back reached out to feel his forehead. Shuichis hands were coarser than he imagined, a little weaker too but the touch wasn’t unwelcome, gentle and reassuring like a caring loved one, like a mother... or like a boyfriend.

Kokichi’s face went redder.

Shuichi blinked at the sudden blush, looked down, and finally noticed the steadily growing bulge in the other’s pants, “O-OH!” The hand on his forehead jerked back (much to Kokichi’s dismay, though he’d forever deny it) and Shuichi clutched at his chest while the other hand flailed, “I-I mean it’s fine! It happens!”

Kokichi kept his eyes on Mario and tried to focus on keeping the mortification off his face, “Sheesh Shuichi, for someone who works in the sex industry you sure are bad at this. Do you really think that’s for you?!” He really hopes Shuichi doesn’t notice the apprehensiveness he’s trying to keep out of his voice, “I’ll have you know I’m more interested in Mario’s 3D ass than you, I have taste ya know!”

“Um-well-uh,” Shuichi said and looked away, suddenly interested in a half eaten taco left on the ground, “That’s quite a taste I guess.”  

When the bus comes, Shuichi notices Kokichi rushes into the bus faster than usual but doesn’t say anything about it.

 

Next day, they don’t talk about it.

Day after that, they don’t talk about it.

They still talk, but they don’t talk about _it_.

A week after that, it’s like it never happened and Kokichi isn’t sure why he feels disappointed instead of relieved.

“Idiot,” he says to himself in the lonely confines of his room later on. Then, feeling oddly hypocritical, jerks off to the imaginary image of Shuichi with his mouth opened while wet cum drips down his face and his hand gestures for more under his chin.

  


When he first started using Shuichi as jack off material again, Kokichi genuinely feared for a while that it would become some bump in their relationship. As if Shuichi could look into his head, see all the porn he dreamt up of him, and then tell him to kindly ‘fuck off’ for using him like a cheap onahole in his dreams. But Kokichis renewed relationship with Rosie Palms aside, Shuichi and him seemed to be fine. It was the middle of December and they were still fine somehow, closer even if anything.

If he was being honest, the closeness that had formed between them was likely a result of them seeing each other so much at the bus stop rather than some inherent interest. Did that make Kokichi hope any less for more? Or stop daydreaming about not waking up alone with dried cum between his legs from last night’s masturbation? Nope, cause Kokichi’s an idiot and he _knows it_.

Shuichi was oblivious to any of these thoughts, thankfully.

“You sure your okay?” Shuichi asked for the third time that night.

Kokichi cursed the fact that Shuichi, while still unaware of his dilemma, was still an observant son of a bitch and said, “Geez Shuichi, you sound like my mother!”

Ironically Shuichi sounded nothing like his mother, and that was exactly why Kokichi liked him.

“Sorry, but you do seem a bit out of it. I want to be your friend Kokichi and if you don’t want to confide in me, I won’t force you... But I’m still worried about you and I can’t stop that,” Shuichi said as his brows crinkled upwards as if to prove his statement.

“Hypocrite,” Kokichi replied sharply, the tiniest bit too desperate to distract Shuichi from prying any further, “Don’t say that while your looking pretty banged up yourself!”

The way that Shuichi glanced away the moment Kokichi said that only cemented his claim. Shuichi had been looking wearier than usual tonight too. Not in the more obvious way like excessive yawning or bags under the eye. He looked worrisome in the more concerning ways; his gaze had been unfocused since Kokichi got here, every few seconds his fingers would pinch at the edges of his minidress, and his skin was noticably paler in an unnatural way. Summarized, this meant Shuichi was stressed. Badly stressed.

“... J-Just-Just a bad day at work. T-Tha-That’s all.”

Kokichi wasn’t buying it, “Your stutterings worse than when we first met.”

Shuichi gulped and rapidly said, “N-Nothing too big. I’m making too big a deal out of it is all.”

“Overthinking about something, eh?” Kokichi could relate to that, “Well if it ever gets too bad, remember my organization can always get rid of someone if you ever need it~! Free of charge for a good friend like you.”

Shuichi hands kept pinch at his dress but the joke made his face loosen up a bit. He smiled slightly, as if wanting to laugh but couldn’t really get it out, he seemed oddly grateful for the attempt to make him cheer up nevertheless.

“Kokichi...” Shuichi said with a far off look, “You’re-You really are a good friend.”

“Hmmm? Well I am easily the best person you’ve ever met, but it’s nice to hear you admit that!” Kokichi replied in the hopes that saying such a nonchalant thing might draw Shuichi out of his worryingly despondent mood. It didn’t.

Shuichi laughed, more tiredly than cheerfully and he said, “I wouldn’t say that but... All those times you made up some lie or made a bad joke, they’ve all distracted me, if only for a few minutes. I really do appreciate that. I kind of needed it and you were great at making me not just sit here and mull over stuff like I used to. So...”

Shuichi looked up at him, staring focusedly straight into his eyes in a way that made Kokichi suddenly feel lighter. In an anxious way or happy way, Kokich wasn’t sure.

“Thanks, for talking to me I guess.”

And then Shuichi said five words Kokichi had never heard in his entire life. Five words his parents wouldn’t ever bother saying, five words Kaede would never think to say, five words Kokichi could only imagine Dice ever thinking let alone saying.

Five simple words that made Kokichi’s world stop in a way that didn’t feel boring.

“I like talking to you.”

Shuichi smiled at him so softly, “I like talking to you a lot actually, you always have something interesting to say. You help get my mind off stuff.”

Kokichi doesn’t say anything. Isn’t sure _what_ to say and has absolutely forgotten how to use his mouth anyways. Before Shuichi can continue, ask Kokichi why he’s being silent maybe, the familiar twin buslights arrive and with a screech, the bus stops in front of them.

“Oh, um,” Shuichi says and gets up, “Sorry, did I get a little dramatic? My bad.”

Kokichi looks at him.

“Uh, I really am sorry if I said anything weird, so... See you tomorrow?” Shuichi says awkwardly, and with a little wave heads onto the bus.

Shuichi looks back at him before getting in, one foot still in the bus. Wanting to take the opportunity, feeling like he _needs_ to take the opportunity, Kokichi opens his mouth and thinks,

_I think I love you. I think I love you so much that it hurts because I’m lonely I’m so damn lonely Shuichi and I hate it. I hate how I can’t just accept I’m alone like I used to because whenever I see you here you welcome me like we’re some stupid married couple and it makes me think I have someone. But then I go home and I don’t and I hate you so much for that. But I’d still give you all my crappy life savings if you’d agree to just cuddle with me for a night. And I know that sounds pathetic because it is and I’d still do it anyways. Please don’t leave me alone again I don’t want to go home. I want to go with you. Shuichi it’s so cold. I’m so cold._

But Kokichi has no idea how to say any that, doesn’t have enough of a spine to be that vulnerable. So all that comes out of his mouth is, “You look good.”

Shuichi is startled by the spur of the moment compliment and the out-of-character bluntness of it. After a moment that feels like eternity though he sighs and asks, “Is this the start to some weird joke?”

“Yep!”

Kokichi nods quickly without any heart in it, “Your smarter than you look for noticing that so quick!”

He laughs but Shuichi seems to notice it’s more high pitched and scratchier than usual. He looks at him curiously, worriedly. Before Shuichi can say anything about it though, the bus driver barks something about ‘holding up the bus, dammit’ and Shuichi can only give him one last glance and a wave before going in.

Kokichi doesn’t follow him on and decides to walk home for once.

  


Like a blessing (or maybe a curse), Shuichi wasn’t at the bus stop for the first time since  Kokichi had first started talking to him two months ago. Shuichi wasn’t at the bus stop the next week either. Or the one after that.

Kokichi didn’t care. The two weren’t that close, the only connection they had was the bus stop and one of them had already ruined that. So fuck it. Who gave a shit? Not him. Yep.

He didn’t care. Nope. Nada.

...

Okay so maybe he did a little.

But not enough that he stopped in his tracks like an idiot when he saw Shuichi-after so many days of sitting alone-at the bus stop as if nothing had happened.  

It annoyed Kokichi. He wasn’t sure why, Shuichi hadn’t done anything to him. But looking at him nonchalantly sitting there, as if he hadn’t ditched Kokichi for more than a week without any warning or goodbye, made Kokichi pissed.

He would’ve probably said that, too livid to think about how embarrassing it would be to admit such private thoughts and not lying, if he didn’t notice how Shuichi looked up close.

Shuichi, for lack of better word, looked like shit. That was the best way Kokichi could describe it. He wasn’t wearing his standard mini dress or fur coat, even the thigh highs were gone. For once, Shuichi was actually wearing clothes you’d expect to see on someone waiting at a bus stop in the middle of the night. A greyish blue sweater that looked like it was about to fall apart into a pile of strings, unfitting cargo pants, and sneakers Kokichi was pretty sure came out of a dumpster (at least they looked like they did). To top the cherry, Shuichi was even paler than the last time Kokichi saw him, a lot jerkier too, and he looked like he was one push away from full blown sobbing in public.

It didn’t even look like the same person.

“Shu-?”

“I’m fucked.” Shuichi blurted out, justifying all of Kokichi’s previous fears, “ _I’m so fucked_.”

“... I’m gonna need some context for that.” is all Kokichi can say to the sudden outburst.

“Did I ever tell you about how I got fired from my pizza job? With the crazy guy?”

“Um, no-”

“My boss fired me because he thought I purposely brought the crazy guy into the shop-the one who threw pizza at me-he thought I actually did cheat on the guy’s girlfriend and brought my love life drama into the store so he fired me on the spot. I couldn’t find a job because of it. _No one wants to hire the guy who brings crazy to the workplace!_ ”

Kokichi... Kokichi still felt lost despite listening, “O-Okay-?”

“So my friend Miu got me a job at the strip club.” Shuichi says, and Kokichi isn’t even sure if the other still remembers he’s there, “She even helped teach me how to dance right and I was fine in the interview. But I even messed up that because _of course_ I did! I always do. _I always do!_ I only managed to keep getting paid because Angie gives more leeway to people who joins her cult and she needed a new waiter. But I messed that up, Kokichi. _I messed up even that!_ ”

“Shuichi!” Kokichi said and grabbed Shuichi arms too force him to look at him, “Calm down, your hyperventilating.”

Shuichi eyes widened, as if just realizing he was breathing harder than usual. Luckily this did seem to calm him down a bit, “I-I-I’m sorry, I just-”

“Don’t apologize, sheesh Shuichi. I’ve handed worse than this before,” Kokichi lied, because he actually wasn’t at all used to handling situations like this and was secretly having a mini breakdown of his own on the inside. But Shuichi didn’t need to know that. “Just breathe and tell me what’s wrong, okay?”

Shuichi nodded jerkily and said, “O-Okay.”

Kokichi didn’t let him speak again until his breathing was semi-normal, “...You better?”

“A-A little, thanks,” Shuichi said, “I’m sorry... I got fired from my job and it really isn’t going well.”

“What happened?”

“There’s this regular customer at the club, Teruteru. He’s a chef or something, but he liked talking to me for some reason. I didn’t mind, he always gave me big tips when I chatted with him.” Shuichi explained, “But when it was my break he invited me to sit at his table in back, gave me free drinks and stuff. It was flattering honestly. He was never anyone mean or creepy. More like a lonely momma’s boy who couldn’t get girlfriend, you know?”

Shuichi bit his lip, “Then he asked me to give him a handjob under the table.”

“... The fuck?”

“I know! I shouldn’t have done it!” Shuichi said and gripped his head between his hands, “But rent was soon and he offered a lot, Kokichi. _A lot._ I didn’t want to say no to that much money and honestly I was a little tipsy too from the drinks too...”

For fuck’s sake.

Kokichi rubbed Shuichi’s back and asked, “So did your boss catch you?”

Shuichi shook his head, “ _Worse_. I actually don’t have much experience with this sort of stuff. It was never my thing, but my friend Miu told me a few stories about how to do it, so I thought I could wing it and give Teruteru a half decent handjob. But... Well I was wearing a sharp ring at the time-Angie wanted me to wear it because of some Atua ritual or something-and I guess I was moving my hand too fast because... u-um...”

Shuichi said the next bit too quietly for Kokichi too hear.

“Huh?”

“I-I... I broke his penis’s frenulum...”

Kokichi’s mind went blank, “What?”

“It’s like this bit of skin that helps connect the foreskin to the penis and-”

“I know what it is, Shuichi. _So you gave him a hand-to-hand circumcision_!?” Kokichi said louder than he intended. He didn’t say it to be rude, but he was genuinely shocked enough that he almost had to say it out loud to confirm that’s what Shuichi said.

“ _Yes!_ ” Shuichi almost sobbed out, “There was blood everywhere and when he saw it he _screamed!_ Angie called an ambulance and had to close early. It happened the last time I saw you.”

“That was a few weeks ago though,” Kokichi said.

“I know, I thought I might be fine because she didn’t fire me on the spot. But then she fired me the next day I went in.”

So that’s why Shuichi was gone for so long.

“I just came back from trying to beg her for my job back... She said Atua doesn’t smile down on me...” Shuichi said, sounding far too distant for comfort.

Kokichi had no idea how to help, what _could_ he say to make him feel better after that... how the hell did therapists do this!? All he could say was, “...Shit.”

“I know...” Shuichi said, his voice cracked and he covered his face with his hands. “I’ve been in bad spots before and I’m sure I’ll live but... My landlord gave me notice a while back because I’ve been late paying for a while. Though he said if I could get the money he’d be more lenient but-”

Shuichi let out a broken wail and Kokichi side hugged him unsuredly, “I can’t find anyone who will hire me and my last check before getting fired isn’t enough, my references are all terrible and I’ve been fired _twice_.”

Again, all Kokichi could say was, “.... Shit.”

Shuichi sniffled and continued, “I’ve been trying to find a place to stay, Miu’s pissed at me because I blew her connections with Angie due to the handjob thing. So she won’t even answer my call, I tried my parents and Uncle too but-but...”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about family,” Kokichi said as comfortingly as he could, and then a little more bitterly said, “I know how that feels.”

“N-No, it’s fine. It’s my own fault there too,” Shuichi said wheezily, “My Uncle’s a detective and I was going to follow in his footsteps like everyone wanted me too. I even got into this really expensive college and my parents paid for it. But... I actually didn’t like it that much, the only big case I ever solved ended with me avenging a victim who caused the murder’s family to commit suicide. I felt so bad... The culprit hated me so much and I couldn’t blame him, the man he killed caused his whole family to kill themselves for pete’s sake.”

Shuichi shook his head, “But I was already in college by that point so I knew I couldn’t turn back now. So I tried to do what my family wanted and I ended up flunking before halfway through the year. My parents haven’t talked to me since, I wasted so much money in college and failed. My Uncle... I don’t even want to talk about my Uncle.”

Kokichi wished he took some class in ‘how to fix people’s emotional problems’ before this.

“The worst part is I actually kind of regret it... letting it all get to me and failing...” Shuichi shrugged, “I use to like doing cases before the murder one, the small ones like finding someone’s lost pet. It was nice to help people in that way, I actually was planning on maybe trying and getting back into the business once I saved up enough money... but now...”

He laughed bitterly, “My parents said I couldn’t come back when I called. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Neither did Kokichi.

Not knowing what else to say, they both sat in silence, Kokichi’s arm still wrapped around Shuichi’s shoulder as an attempt for comfort.

Before either realized it the bus was in front of them. Kokichi didn’t know what to do.

So he wondered something that had been nagging him in the back of his mind.

What did he want out of him and Shuichi?

They bonded, sure. For pete’s sake, Kokichi just calmed Shuichi down from a panic attack and heard his entire life story less than a minute ago. So yes, they knew each other.

But what else?

Shuichi only confided in Kokichi because he was there and convenient. He didn’t want to delude himself by guessing it could’ve been anything more than that, Shuichi would’ve had that breakdown regardless of Kokichi, Kokichi was just in the right place at the right time. Even with their other interactions: right place and right time. They only ever talked, ever bonded, ever threw pumpkin cookies at each other and played ancient Mario game together because they were were sitting at the same freezing bus stop while everyone else in the world was sleeping.

Everything else Kokichi daydreamed about? Loneliness. That’s all it was really. That and the fact that Shuichi was hot and made great wet dream porn.

He wasn’t going to be a dumbass and disappoint himself just to get laid.

Really.

Shuichi-back in the real world-stared lifelessly at the bus stop, like a man who was watching his time run out and begging it not to be true. But it was true.

“I-I,” Shuichi said, and then with a resigned sense of finality, stood up, “I-I’ll see you around, Kokichi.”

Realistically, based on what Shuichi was saying, this would likely be the last time they would ever see each other. Shuichi would be a homeless hobo on the street, would probably try actual prostitution to get something to eat, and become another depressing story they told on the news or something. Kokichi didn’t care. He’ll live, he has his own problems and Shuichi isn’t something he has time to deal with. So he’ll go on the bus and never see Shuichi again, and it will be fine (but that’s a lie-).

Shuichi got on the bus. Kokichi followed him.

Generally Shuichi sat in one of the middle seats and Kokichi chose a place in back. So Kokichi sat right next to him. Shuichi looked over at him, silently asking with his eyes ‘why?’

“You know, I was thinking about pimping myself out as a prostitute. Like what I use to think you did!” Kokichi lied, because being straightforward and direct wasn’t his thing. That would’ve made this _so_ much harder. Anything harder really.

“... You don’t have to cheer me up, I’m sorry about acting so crazy in front of you in the first place-”

“Stop being such a gloom for crying! Sheesh! No one gives a shit about that right now, there’s more important things at stake!” Kokichi scolded.

Shuichi gave him another confused look and said, “... Like what?”

Kokichi grinned, “Like how I’m planning on pimping my couch out for dummies who give under the table handjobs that end in circumcision~”

Like when Kokichi first met him, Shuichi’s gaping face was beautiful.

“Twenty bucks a night!”

  
  
  


Kokichi’s apartment wasn’t anything to brag about but he was hoping it was decent enough that Shuichi wouldn’t mind. At the very least he had finally gotten rid of the leftovers and laundry that usually decorated the room. He’d even dusted a little before giving up when the dust clouds it created caused him to bend over coughing for a full minute. Realistically he knew Shuichi wouldn’t give a damn what his place looked like as long as it had a roof, but it still bothered him for some dumb reason he didn’t want to think too much into.

Thankfully Shuichi, holding a stuffed backpack and cardboard box in hand, looked more relieved than revolted when he came in.

“I really can’t thank you enough,” Shuichi repeated for the tenth time (Kokichi was counting) that night.

“If you thank me one more time I’m gonna send my lackey’s after your kneecaps,” Kokichi said while faking a pout. Shuichi only giggled.

“I don’t have another bed or anything so you’ll have to take the couch,” Kokichi said, then smirked and continued, “Unless you want to accept a new job as my sexy maid/neko/little sister/sugar baby/schoolgirl/dickhole concubine-”

“The couch is fine.” Shuichi responded quickly and dropped her things on the couch’s end before sitting down on the other side. “Don’t worry though, I don’t want to bother you for too long so I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can. I can even pay you back rent-”

“Stop being such a downer, if I was in your situation I’d totally be taking advantage of all this free stuff!” Kokichi interrupted, “I’m actually a little insulted your not trying to steal from me right now.”

“I can’t say I’m sorry for not stealing from you,” Shuichi said, “But this is a nice place, better than nowhere anyways. Though I actually expected more ornaments, the cheesy kind, like an elf on the shelf or a wreath made out of printed out dank memes. I feel like it fits you.”

To be fair, Kokichi did use to have an elf on the shelf he kept solely for creeping people out (and he was definitely stealing that wreath idea) but that wasn’t what stood out to Kokichi.

“Why would I have ornaments out?” Kokichi asked in uncharacteristically genuine confusion.

“...It’s Christmas Eve..?”

“...Well yeah, I knew that!”

He didn’t, Kokichi completely forgot Christmas was even a thing for a minute. Not having any loved ones around you to nag about Christmas coming up does that to a person. Bummer.

...Though that did explain why there was so much tinsel at work lately.

“Sorry, do you mind if I unpack in the morning? I’m just really exhausted,” Shuichi asked and rested his head against the backrest.

“Only if you give me your liver,” Kokichi said nonchalantly, Shuichi heard the ‘yes, you can’ behind it.

“Thank you so much,” Shuichi said (for the eleventh time), “I... I really am grateful-* _yawn_ *-um.. I’ll... I’ll see you in the morning....” Shuichi closed his eyes and was out like a light. He looked more peaceful than Kokichi had seen in weeks.

Outside he could hear a passing car playing jingle bells loud enough for the whole block to hear. Above all that it was a clear night, albeit it was a city clear night so it was less a ‘dark sea of stars and pale moon’ sky and more ‘slightly yellow moon with mostly satellites around it and a few actual stars here and there’ sky. Though for most people even that sort of night view was beautiful in it’s own way. Inside his apartment, Kokichi didn’t notice any of that. He only noticed Shuichi, his chest rhythmically rising up and down on the couch as he slept.

Kokichi thought about it. Just for a second. Shuichi was at his house-the start to practically every porno-and Kokichi had a bed with room for two. If he actually tried he could probably convince Shuichi that they should sleep together, in more ways than one.

Then Kokichi looked at Shuichi’s face-weary, tired, but relieved and grateful more than anything. And it wasn’t even hard to decide to let Shuichi rest.

On the couch, Shuichi let out a soft sigh and turned in his sleep.

With an odd feeling-a mix of giddiness, nervousness, and restlessness that all made him feel warmer than he ever had in years-Kokichi left the moment it looked like Shuichi was deep in sleep to grab something that might connotate a decent Christmas present before the other woke up.

...Would buying Shuichi an instruction guide on how to properly do a handjob be in bad taste?

Probably.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this as a bored brain fart that took the form of a few random drabbles...  
> Then I decided 'fuck it, let's make it an actual fic for Christmas!..'  
> Then Christmas passed and I realized I have no idea how to goddamn pace for shit.  
> So basically,  
> hope you enjoyed!  
> *Critique wanted and very likely needed*
> 
> Fun Fact: Shuichi was actually gonna be a legit stripper in the rough draft, then I realized to be a decent stripper you'd need to attract attention to yourself... and then I realized that was the most OOC thing I could do to Shuichi's character. So fuck.


End file.
